Through Thick and Thin
by ardie.g
Summary: Peeta never hoped to do anything in his life than to continue the legacy of his family's bakery. His parents only had two children and his brother was never willing to continue the bakery himself. But when a certain event that involved his best friend happened, he couldn't help but to make the decision that could change his life forever. Slash, rated M for safety.


**A.N. : Kaykay, so hi, everyone! So I had finally given writing fan fiction another chance (again) and since I didn't particularly have any ideas of an AU fanfic, so I thought I'd just write one based off the books, but, of course, with twists. Enjoy.**

 **\- Ardie**

 _Peeta's P.O.V._

I sigh as I woke up on the softest bed I'd ever laid my body on. I looked out the window and saw nothing but trees, passing through with a pace so quick I couldn't comprehend. Then I remembered what had occurred yesterday.

-o-

With Gale, the dashing man who had become my best friend for as long as I could remember, standing ever so charmingly next to me, I emerged from my family's bakery and approached the Justice Building. How ironic, for it being called the _Justice Building_ when it was filled with nothing but sadness. It was the last reaping that Gale was ever going to attend, as he was a year older than me. Gale seemed less gloomy than he was during the other reapings, but I was not so. I mean, sure, it was a year closer to my final reaping, but it was still a reaping nonetheless.

"You okay, Peet?" Gale asked, with concern present in his voice.

"Oh Gale, you know one is never okay during the reaping day." I replied.

"Fair enough. I know what would make you feel better, though." He ended the sentence with a wink. I automatically knew what he meant. We still had two hours left until the reaping anyway, so what was to lose?

He led the way as I followed, and about a quarter of an hour later we arrived at our destination. Gale wasted no time as he threw a medium-sized pebble at the fence, and it didn't react whatsoever. Even on the reaping day, District 12 was still ignored by the Capitol. How shocking.

We got out to the vast and mesmerizing woods outside our district's boundaries, and immediately I felt at ease. The sense of freedom and liberation hit my nerves and my lips formed a small smile.

"Knew it would make you feel better." Gale said as he saw my smile.

Ten minutes of walking and enjoying the scenery of our usual path in silence passed, and we sat on the trunk that held our hidden stash of weapons.

"So, what do you want to hunt today with these babes of yours?" He says, grabbing the throwing knives that were mine from the trunk.

Those knives reminded me of the good times Gale and I had together. He was fifteen and I was only fourteen. During our first few weeks of sneaking out the woods together, Gale suggested that we go out hunting. Me, being a baker's son, of course, didn't agree, as I didn't particularly have anything in mind about killing wild animals out in the woods and selling their corpses. But Gale insisted that it'd be fun, so I reluctantly nodded and said okay. Gale smiled and proceeded to take us to our usual site, and showed me a set of weapons. A bow and arrow, throwing knives, a spear, even throwing stars. I looked at him with a look that said, "Where the hell did you get these?" and it was as if Gale could read minds, because then he said "I know, I know. I crafted the bow and arrow myself, Katniss taught me. The spear too. As for the throwing knives and throwing stars, this particular peacekeeper kindly offered me to take some."

"Really Gale? Did he really _offer_ you them?" I asked.

"Okay, maybe he didn't specifically _offer_ them to me, it's just that they were out in the open on that field near the Peacekeeper's houses so I took the chance and there you go."

"Fair enough. Let's see what these can do, I guess?" I replied.

-o-

"Peet? _Peeta?_ Earth to Peeta?" Gale said as he waved his palms in front of my face. I jolted slightly, shocked from the intervention of my little flashback session.

"Uhuh. Yeah. Let's go hunt." I answered.

An hour of hunting later, we sat down and looked at today's game. It wasn't good, but we weren't aiming to really hunt anyway. We got two squirrels, and nothing else.

"Well, I guess it's time, so, shall we go?" I said, while standing up.

"Wait, Peet, can you sit down again for just a minute? I want to talk about something." Gale says. He sounds serious, dead serious. Gale was more of a laid back person, and this was not his usual self.

"Yeah, what is-" I didn't even get the chance to finish what I was saying when Gale suddenly tackled my lips with his, with such dominance which he had never shown to me before. I accepted the kiss, and his hands travelled down my back. We continued this battle until only-God-knew how many minutes, and we broke off.

I sat down and waited for an explanation.

"I'm sorry. I know I should've done that a long time ago, but I was afraid you wouldn't feel the same. Don't pretend like I don't notice that look of want you always shoot at Katniss whenever we talk." He explained.

I quirked my eyebrow at him. "Oh Gale, that wasn't a look of want I always shot at her. That was a look of jealousy, you asshole. I thought you were into her and that's why I always came up with an excuse whenever you wanted us to hang out together with Katniss, so that I didn't have to see you and her together." I said, laughing.

"But I thought that was because you were shy of hanging out with your crush." He said.

"No, I'm not the shy type when my crush is my own best friend." I said, while going for a chaste kiss.

Walking back to the district, hand in hand with Gale, he looked down at me and said, "So, what exactly are we right now, Peeta?"

I replied, "We can be whatever you want us to be, Gale."

After dropping off our squirrels at Gale's, we arrived at the reaping.

When it was my turn to register, Gale took hold of my hand while a peacekeeper took a drop of my blood.

After it was Gale's turn to register I couldn't remember anything happening, then our district's bright escort from the Capitol began her usual speech on the stage. The anthem plays and the annoying video regarding the revolution and Capitol bullshit does too. When it was done, she wiped off her tears and began the selection.

"As usual, ladies first." I hated this because that meant Gale and I had to wait and I just couldn't wait to get this over with.

"Primrose Everdeen."

What? This was her first year! It couldn't have been her! My look of shock reflected on Gale and Katniss' faces, as Prim tucked her shirt into her skirt and began to walk slowly towards the stage.

Katniss chased her while yelling out her name. "Prim! Prim!" she shouted. She was crying and two peacekeepers made her go back to her place.

Prim reached the stage with a blank face and I had to look at the ground to not cry.

"What a bright and pretty little girl we have here! And now, let's move on to the boys." The escort said.

She walked to the boys' glass bowl and put her right hand in it. Then, she proceeded to swing it back and forth, as if she was playing with our emotions. After about five seconds of doing that, she finally stuck her hand deep into the bowl and retrieved a single piece of paper.

She opened the piece of paper and spoke.

"Gale Hawthorne."

And the Earth went falling down on me.

 **A.N. : So, that was the first chapter. I'll just give you a moment to process what'd happened. Leave a review if your heart desires, my lovelies. Reviews mean I'd have responses on my writing so I can improve it.** _ **à tout à l'heure!**_


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